Help me cover or clean a grimy windowsill

March 29, 2009 10:54 AM

Urban dwellers: how do you deal with windowsill grime?

I'm not much of a housekeeper, but the window thing is getting to me. I live on a lower floor in NYC and the grime that builds up on my kitchen windowsill is really vile. The sill itself is very old, pockmarked painted wood and very hard to clean, but I rent so can't really change it. I wondered if anyone has any tips about covering the sill - maybe with contact paper or some kind of foil? (How would I deal with the pockmarks?) Or maybe top it with a wooden board? (But then how to secure the board?)

I'm surprised Google hasn't been much help here. I would have thought this was a common problem. It wasn't so bad when I lived higher in the sky, but this close to the street means there's a new film of grime every day and wiping with windex seems to just smear the dirt around.

posted by CunningLinguist to home & garden (10 comments total)

Can you change it a little bit? I would recommend sanding it down to get rid of the pockmarks so the dirt will not be able to accumulate in them as easily. If your apartment is older, I'm sure the landlord wouldn't even notice.
posted by cranberrymonger at 11:01 AM on March 29

Or, you could get a high-pressure hose (the kind they use at car washes) and blast the whole area.
posted by cranberrymonger at 11:02 AM on March 29

At my old apartment I had an old steel windowsill arrangement that was super encrusted with multiple layers of paint and rust. I just cut had two board cut to the width of the windows and nailed them together to have an L-shaped cross section. After test fitting it (and adding some shims to level it) I just attached it to the existing sill with a bunch of double sided mounting tape. A kludgy solution, but it was a rental apartment so I didn't want to do a ton of real renovation.
posted by frieze at 11:17 AM on March 29

Why is it so dirty, because you leave the window open?

You might want to re-paint with a glossy coat, which hopefully would make the windex wipes more effective.
posted by RajahKing at 11:18 AM on March 29

You can probably clean it with a wire brush and some paper towels. You need the depth of the scrubbing brush for those big NYC pothole windowsills, plu sit will help remove old loose paint. Then fill the pockmarks with an exterior spackle to even out the surface, let it dry, and put a coat of exterior gloss paint on it. You can get tiny tins of paint, but I'm not sure about tiny tins of exterior spackle...
posted by DarlingBri at 11:20 AM on March 29

Second the paint, but don't spend a bunch on it. Ask your landlord if they have some extra paint so you can do it without costing you anything. Most will have extra paint, and any sensible landlord will let you do it even if they are clearly not paying a lot of attention.

Also cheep: the local hardware store will likely have left over paint from botched color/mixes "mistints"- buy that in a hue you don't mind and just paint it. Make certain it's formulated for outdoor use- the indoor stuff won't cut it. The trick is paint it many times. Cheapest and easiest. Brush the window sill off first. Call ahead before you go to the store - it is not certain they will have any "mistint", or just spend the 10-15 for a can of the color you like and use it for other stuff.

Wood is second cheapest/easiest, but likely won't look as good until you paint it. Measure the window very carefully & make a diagram with all dimensions take it to the hardware store - the big ones will cut it for you for not a bunch of cash. Tell the hardware folks that you want to anchor this wood into the frame: you will need to know if the frame is Cement, Brick, wood etc. They'll have piles of advice - my advice is if you are uncertain (ie wood over brick) get both the screws -they are not terrible expensive relative to having to go back to the store and get the right ones. You'll want particleboard if its going to get wet, only get MDF (cheeper) if it will stay dry. You'll really want a drill, especially if the project involves brick/cement/metal.

For metal foil options: copper foil can be acquired relatively inexpensively at stained glass shops google examples.
Copper will turn green if it's outside for a long time, first it will look like an old penny, which may not be what you are looking for. It won't hold up to a lot of contact. Heavy duty aluminum foil will also work. Looks like aluminum foil, but cheep and bigger grocery stores will have it. It is hand stuff.

I don't recommend sheet metal mainly because it will likely stay sharp, hard to work without the proper tools, harder to paint or fix if it doesn't look right and more expensive.

Go with six layers of paint. From the landlords stash in the basement.
posted by zenon at 11:58 AM on March 29

i had sheets of thin plexiglass cut to fit the sills exactly (I have wide sills, wide enough to sit on). they're easier to keep clean than the painted wood. it still gets grody but not as much.
posted by Ollie at 1:18 PM on March 29

I asked the selfsame question here and got some great answers.
posted by minervous at 3:03 PM on March 29

Augh. I could have sworn I saw something so I searched but did not find. I think I was looking for "grime" not "dust."
Did you end up getting an air purifier? That seems maybe excessive.

I guess I'm going to go the paint route, just to make cleaning the sill easier. Too bad. I had images of sticking faux marble or granite contact paper to the sill, but it would never adhere.
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:34 PM on March 29

Don't put down wood without painting it. The little pores will just soak up that stuff.

In my experience an air cleaner will not help since the soot never gets far enough to reach the filter. It gets as far as the still and then sits there, daring you to clean it.

It's a shame that contact paper won't stick to it because it's such a breeze to clean. Even if I painted it I would put down some matching contact paper. It'll keep it from getting into the divots and dents.

Oh, the best solution is to -not- get it wet since it will just turn to mud and if anything work in deeper. Use a Swiffer cloth or a vacuum with a brush attachment.
posted by Ookseer at 10:20 PM on March 29